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THE USE OF CULTURALLY-FAMILIAR LITERATURE IN THE EFL CLASSROOM by Sadaf Khalil Ahmad A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the American University of Sharjah College of Arts and Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Sharjah, United Arab Emirates May 2013 © 2013 Sadaf Khalil Ahmad. All rights reserved. We, the undersigned, approve the Master‟s Thesis of Your Full Name. Thesis Title: Your Thesis Title Goes Here Signature Date of Signature (dd/mm/yyyy) ___________________________ _______________ Dr. Khawlah Ahmed Associate Professor Thesis Advisor ___________________________ _______________ Dr. Judith Caesar Professor Thesis Committee Member ___________________________ _______________ Dr. Peter Crompton Associate Professor Thesis Committee Member ___________________________ _______________ Dr. Kathleen Hewett-Smith Head of the Department of English ___________________________ _______________ Dr. Pia Anderson CAS Graduate Programs Director ___________________________ _______________ Dr. Mahmoud Anabtawi Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences ___________________________ _______________ Dr. Khaled Assaleh Director of Graduate Studies Acknowledgements Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. This research project could not be completed by individual efforts alone. I must acknowledge the members of my thesis committee who have greatly contributed to the preparation of this work. Particular thanks are due to my supervisor Dr. Khawlah Ahmed for her help, advice and support in seeing the fruition of this project. I should also like to express my sincere gratitude to my committee members Dr. Judith Caesar and Dr. Peter Crompton who kindly provided their timely assistance and feedback. In addition, an expression of appreciation must go to Dr. Betty Lanteigne, Dr. Laila Noman and Dr. Nawar Golley from the Department of English who offered their insightful views. Many thanks also extends to Dr. Shou-Hsing Shih from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics for helping me with the statistical analysis of my research data. An expression of appreciation would not be complete without mentioning my colleagues Fatima Ahmed, Hadeel El-Rahal, and Taghreed Ibrahim from the MA TESOL program for providing me with moral support. And last but not least, I am extremely grateful to all those instructors and students who agreed to participate in this study. It would have been impossible to conduct this research without their generous contribution. Dedication I dedicate this thesis to my mother, Farida Ghulam Ghaws, and my father, Khalil Ahmad for their selfless love and support all the way. Abstract Insights from Cultural Studies and related fields significantly influence the discipline of language learning and teaching recently. Literature shares an intrinsic relationship with language and culture and therefore can serve as a teaching/learning resource for both language and culture. Literature was highly valued in language teaching during the flourishing days of the Grammar Translation Method, driven out of the language classroom with the advent of Communicative Language Teaching, but it is now gradually finding its way back to the language classroom with the increasing significance of intercultural awareness in second and foreign language teaching. However, the diversified nature of English literature today due to the unprecedented spread of the language raises the question whether the focus should remain on American and British literature in foreign language classrooms. Cultural Schema Theory anticipates that cultural-familiarity facilitates the reader‟s comprehension of literature. This study seeks to learn about the views of EFL instructors at post- secondary level in UAE on the significance of literature in language teaching and the use of culturally-familiar literature in EFL classrooms. In addition, it aims to find out whether reading culturally-familiar literature positively impacts the reading comprehension of EFL students compared to culturally less-familiar literature. A questionnaire is used to learn about the instructors‟ views and an exploratory study involving 76 EFL students is designed to test whether cultural-familiarity has any effect on reading comprehension. Quantitative and qualitative measures are employed to discuss the findings of the study. Analysis of the research data reveals that instructors acknowledge the significance of literature in teaching the target language and are in favor of using culturally-familiar literature in EFL classrooms. The results of the comprehension tests confirm that cultural-familiarity positively impacts reading comprehension of EFL students. Search Terms: Literature in EFL classroom, culturally-familiar literature, cultural schema theory, reading comprehension, nonnative English literature. 6 Table of Contents Abstract ………………………………………….…………………………….…….. 6 List of Figures ……………………………………………………………….…...….. 9 List of Tables …………………………………………………………….……….… 10 Chapter 1: Introduction ……………………………………….……………………. 11 Statement of the Problem …………………………………………………… 11 Significance of the Research ……………………………………………….. 14 Overview of the Chapters and Appendices ………………………......……. 18 Chapter 2: Review of the Literature ………………………………………….……. 20 English Language ……………………………………..............……………. 20 English Literature ……………………………..……………………………. 29 Using Background Knowledge in Reading Comprehension ……………….. 43 Chapter 3: Methodology ………………………………..…………………….……. 57 Educational Institutions …………………………………………...……….. 57 Research Participants ……………………………..………………………... 60 Research Instruments ………………………….…………………………… 62 Data Collection ……………………………………………………………... 65 Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings ……………………………....……………. 71 Language Resource …………………………………………...…………….. 71 Integrative Learning ……………………………..………………………….. 72 Syntax, Lexicon, Pragmatics, and Idioms ………………………………….. 72 Developing Cognitive Domain ……………………………………………... 76 Developing Affective Domain ……………………………………………... 77 Developing Intercultural Awareness ……………………………………….. 77 Using Literature to Teach Language ……………………………………….. 78 Curricular Constraints ……………………………………………………… 79 Students‟ Interest in Reading Literature …………………………………… 80 Lack of Reading Culture ………………………………………………….... 81 Preoccupation with Modern Technology…………………………………… 81 Stereotypical Perceptions …………………………………………………... 82 Difficulty in Understanding Literature ……………………………………... 82 Cultural Content in Literature ……………………………………………… 83 7 Reading Comprehension …………………………………………………… 84 Vocabulary Acquisition ……………………………………………………. 84 Using Nonnative English Literature ……………………………………….. 85 Using Culturally-Familiar Literature ………………………………………. 88 Reading Comprehension Test Results ……………………………………... 94 Chapter 5: Conclusions and Implications ………………………….………...…….. 96 Summary ……………………………………………...……………………. 96 Implications of the Study ……………………………..……………………. 97 Limitations of the Study …………………………………………………... 100 Suggestions for Further Research …………………………………………. 102 Concluding Remark ……………………………………………………….. 103 References …………………………………………………………..…………….. 106 Appendix A: Instructors‟ Questionnaire ………………….…………………….… 113 Appendix B: Vocabulary Test for AABP Students ……………………...…………118 Appendix C: Chart Used to Determine the Reading-Level of AABP Students …... 122 Appendix D: Reading Comprehension Tests ……………………………………... 124 Appendix E: Questionnaire Results ………………………………………………. 134 Vita ………………………………………………………………………….…….. 137 8 List of Figures Figure 1: Nationalities of Student Participants …………………………………… 61 Figure 2: Rating Averages of Four Language Areas ……………………………... 75 Figure 3: Frequency of Including Literature in Language Teaching ……………... 78 Figure 4: Students‟ Interest in Reading Literature ……………………………….. 80 Figure 5: Traditional Bases of English Language ………………………………... 85 Figure 6: Native English Literature versus Nonnative English Literature ………. 87 Figure 7: Using Culturally-Familiar Literature ………………………………….. 88 Figure 8: Using Translated Literature …………………………………………… 90 9 List of Tables Table 1: Background of Instructors ……………………………………………… 60 Table 2: Effect of Reading Literature on Different Language Areas …………..... 73 Table 3: Mean Scores of Students ……………………………………………….. 94 10 Chapter 1: Introduction Working in the Achievement Academy Bridge Program (AABP) at the American University of Sharjah (AUS) as an instructor during my graduate studies for two years guided me to conceptualize this research project. Students who apply to AUS and score below the required 530 on the TOEFL are advised to join an English language and university preparation program called the Achievement Academy Bridge Program (AABP). Students registered in the program are commonly referred to as “Bridge students.” AABP students can belong to any of the beginner, intermediate, or advanced level in the program depending on their TOEFL score. As an instructor in AABP during my graduate studies, I taught a TOEFL preparation course and helped students, who were basically English language learners, during their independent learning hours in the Learning Enhancement Center (LEC). LEC was more than just a library because it was equipped with books, computers, movies, language exercises, TOEFL test preparation material, and tutors willing to help students. Apart from their regular classes, AABP students were required to spend 3 hours per week in the LEC. While beginner-level students spent the entire three hours in LEC, intermediate-level and

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